Fifty three years ago today, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in history to venture into outer space. Below, Mika McKinnon talks about Gagarin's incredible journey to Earth orbit (and how to best commemorate that journey: by finding the Yuri's Night party nearest you!) »4/12/14 6:24pm 4/12/14 6:24pm

Both Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in desert of Kazakhstan. It has since served as a launch pad for generations upon generations of spacecraft, including the International Space Station. Take a tour of Baikonour as it looks today. »8/04/13 8:35pm 8/04/13 8:35pm

On March 27, 1968, the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, died. He was in a MiG-15 on a routine training flight with his instructor when his plane crashed. The official explanation has been that he had to avoid a "foreign" object, but new information from Cosmonaut Alexi Leonov tells a different story. »6/17/13 1:24pm 6/17/13 1:24pm

Fifty years ago on this day, three months after he became the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin was welcomed in London for a parade where he was given a Rolls–Royce bearing the plates YG 1 to drive. »7/11/11 2:00pm 7/11/11 2:00pm

While Ladas and Zastavas were all fine and good for the workers, the big shots rolled in a ZIL. The company was born as ZIS at the hands of the Fathers of the USSR - including but not limited to Stalin himself. The Post-Stalinist ZIL brought American styling cues into the mix with the likes of Yuri Gagarin and Nikita… »5/01/07 9:00pm 5/01/07 9:00pm